Nursing a healthy reputation

Invite to research findings

New research from HR Lounge partner, TMP Worldwide reveals that the reputation of the NHS Trusts as an employer of choice is the first consideration when nurses are looking for a new role.

The extensive research also revealed other key considerations include a good work/life balance, great opportunities for career progression, an excellent salary and investment in staff.

TMP are inviting interested individual to a morning seminar to hear more about the research findings.

The research, ‘Nursing a Healthy Reputation’, commissioned by TMP Worldwide in collaboration with the Royal College of Nursing Publishing, questioned 1,600 nurses across the UK, to understand the employment factors that are affecting career motivations. Seventy per cent of those surveyed are nurses practicing at Band 5 or above, so represent key talent for the 20,000 outstanding nursing vacancies in the NHS.

Findings show that the retention of nurses will be a big issue for NHS Trusts in 2014 with less than a quarter (14%) of nurses surveyed happy in their current role. With 57% of respondents saying they are looking for a new position, 21% actively and 36% quietly keeping an eye out for something new, employer reputation needs to be a top priority for Trusts looking to attract or retain top talent.

Reputation will also be important to stop a potential talent exodus to other countries and care sectors, with 54% of nurses surveyed having considered working outside the UK and 53% having considered applying for a role in a different care profession such as Health Visiting.

With 75% of those questioned wary of ‘high risk’ Trusts as a potential employer, this reinforces the critical role that reputation will play in an organisation’s bid to attract the best talent to work with them to improve care within the NHS.

Another key finding is that nurses are responding positively towards aligning employment behind the 6C values of patient care – care, compassion, competence, communication, courage and commitment. 71% of respondents support the values of the 6Cs, indicating a belief that the current issues of staff shortages and disengaged nursing staff can be overcome and talent is willing to get behind initiatives that will turn around the current perception of public sector healthcare.

Nicola Bullen, Strategic Lead – Health at TMP Worldwide, comments: “The research highlights a clear need for NHS Trusts to consider their reputation if they want to attract and retain top talent. Having the right nurses on board has never been more important as Trusts implement new strategies for improving patient care against a backdrop of cost cutting initiatives.

“With public and private health providers looking to TMP Worldwide for advice on attraction strategies, we undertook the research to provide insight into the driving factors behind nurses seeking new careers and how the many NHS Trusts we work with, can use more innovative approaches in accessing them. Identifying top talent, not only those that meet skills prerequisites but that also reflect individual organisational values, can have a huge impact on the delivery of consistent quality care as well as on the bottom line. This will go a long way in helping to reduce the significant cost of bank and agency spend and in reducing staff turnover.”

Jane Naish, Deputy Chief Nurse at Milton Keynes Hospital NHS Foundation Trust said: “The priority for Milton Keynes Hospital is to establish our reputation as a provider of high quality care with high standards of nursing practice. This entails robust entry requirements for registered nurses and HCAs – for example, every registered nurse has to pass a drugs calculation test at 92% to gain an interview with us – in the belief that like attracts like. With our proximity to London, attracting – and retaining - the best nursing staff has long been an issue. This means we have had to be innovative in our approaches to recruitment and retention.

“Alongside a £1.2 million investment in additional nursing staff last year, which has involved a range of activities, our successful Red Jug recruitment campaign, which was designed in conjunction with TMP has been focusing on the wealth of opportunities available for nursing staff at Milton Keynes. These include highlighting our values; our investment in our staff; listening to staff ideas and implementing their innovations; the diversity of activities available in the town outside of work and our affordable housing.

“We have also invested heavily in nursing education and built relationships with local universities so that we provide a variety of educational opportunities for all bands, from Health Care Assistants to Matrons. We have around 300 places available this year alone, and by the end of the year 50% of our HCAs will have undertaken a health care module at the Open University.

“The research will be invaluable to the trust in considering further strategies for recruiting and retaining nursing staff at Milton Keynes Hospital.”

TMP Worldwide will be running a series of workshops across the UK to detail the research and provide guidance on how employers in the healthcare sector can work to communicate the benefits that matter most to nursing staff and how to engage both active and passive job seekers with a clearly stated reputation to attract the best talent.

The ‘Nursing a Healthy Reputation’ research was commissioned by TMP Worldwide, in collaboration with the Royal College of Nursing Publishing. A stratified sample of 1,600 nurses were asked to fill out a quantitative survey of 40 questions online. Results from this survey were collected between November 13th - November 22nd 2013.